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When On the Rocks of Ignorance a Budding Friendship Flounders
The only thing worth salvaging is one’s self-respect
Indeed, on the first seeing of you,
I was intrigued, never having met a literary Indian lady before
Open-heartedly, like a kid at school, I wanted to launch
Into the sweet waters of a warm friendship with you.
(Yes I confess I took you to be a decent person with a kind compassionate heart, guided by principles chiming I thought, with my own, and especially so, when you told me how you’d cared for your terribly ill Auntie, I mean that really spoke to me of your capacity for love and loyalty. You’re on the same plane, as me, I exclaimed to myself.)
I’d been bleeding on the rocky shores of a confusing, white supremacy
Healing in the harbour of a sweet solitude, dodging the sharks of the
Muslim Patriarchy, I truly stretched out my hand in friendship and
Far too soon, shorn of all pretence, I swam to you like a child, all nude.
(Yes I brought you some presents when you invited me for the first time to your home. Was it a plant and an aromatherapy essential oil roll-on scent? Some chocolates too? It was nothing major, just to…
